


Worth Protecting

by thorbiased



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rescue, Team as Family, Thor Needs a Hug, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 12:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17325203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorbiased/pseuds/thorbiased
Summary: When the ever-present pain in the neck Thaddeus Ross kidnaps Thor, the team has to break him out. Simple as that, but when they arrive, they find that things might not be as simple as they thought.





	Worth Protecting

Natasha pressed two fingers to the comm unit in her ear. She stood back from the facility, eyes scrutinizing every detail of the building. She looked for vantage points, entrance points, and most importantly, armed guards. 

“There’s nothing,” Natasha said lowly. It wasn’t right. That building was supposed to be harboring a  _ god.  _ There should’ve been guards, at least. She knew Ross was stupid, but he wasn’t an idiot. You don’t kidnap a god, and then not guard him. “Are we sure this is the right place?”

A few miles out, Bruce was camped in the woods. He’d set up a surveillance van where he could talk to the entire team and monitor Ross, who was currently giving a speech in DC. “I’m sure. Tony, what about heat signatures?”

Natasha didn’t start when Tony dropped down beside her with a soft  _ clank _ . His helmet snapped back. “I’m getting a  _ single  _ heat signature. If Thor’s in there, he’s unguarded.”

“I don’t like it,” Steve muttered from his spot on the other side of the building, “But  _ if _ it’s Thor, we can’t just leave him. Worst case scenario, we take a security guard down.”

“I’m with Cap,” Bruce said, “We’ve been looking for Thor for months. This is the best lead we have.”

“It’s the only lead we have,” Sam huffed. He planted his hands on his hips. “We don’t have another option.”

“Stick to the plan, then,” Tony said, letting his helmet click back into place. His repulsors fired up with a whir. “Widow, head in.”

Per the plan, Natasha strutted casually to the front door. She knocked on the door, rested her weight on her back leg, and waited. Her job was to get the surveillance footage for Bruce, connect his van to the facility’s cameras. She tapped her foot, resisting the urge to check her watch. 

“Just try the lock, Nat,” Bruce said.

Natasha did, and the door opened without any resistance. Every instinct in her body was begging her to turn around. Something wasn’t right about this place. Her heart beat a little faster as she crept through the halls. Trained spy as she was, it didn’t take long for her to locate the control room.

“Alright, I’m in,” she reported, “Stand by for my signal, Sam. When I tell you, come in.”

The control room was small, but nicer than many she’d broken into. The rows of cameras had clear images, which made Bruce’s job easier. She studied the dozen or so monitors that lined the wall, looking for any sign of their missing god of thunder. Her eyes locked on a the screen in the bottom right. It wasn’t Thor, but the camera was trained on an iron door, a keypad lock on the wall beside it. What could be behind that door that they didn’t want cameras to see? 

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she said as she connected Bruce’s device to the monitors. “You getting this, Bruce?” 

“I am,” he said. He tapped his fingers against the bottom right screen. “That door…”

“My thoughts exactly,” Natasha murmured. “It’s on the top floor. I’m thinking we should reevaluate the plan, boys. There’s no guards. I say we all go in that door, with Bruce on lookout.”

“What are you seeing, Widow?” Tony asked.

“Hold on, Tony, I’ll just…” Bruce tapped a button or two, and Tony’s display lit up with the image Natasha and Bruce were looking at. “See that?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s concerning.” 

“We’ll need everyone in here,” Natasha said, crossing her arms. “We don’t know what they’d done to Thor. Who knows what we could be facing.”

“I’ll watch for anyone coming home,” Bruce said, “You guys go ahead.”

Now gathered in the room, they stood crowded around the door. You could’ve cut the tension with a knife. Tony worked on the keypad, running calculations and cursing when each different combination of numbers was a bust. He tapped in code after code, while the rest of the team struggled not to imagine what could’ve been behind that silver door. 

Natasha had taken to pacing. She focused her energy on controlling her heart rate and breathing, but every time she got it under control, the image of Thor being tortured flashed behind her eyes and she lost her grip again. 

“Ha!” Tony exclaimed, grinning. “I got it.”

Everyone’s heads snapped to face the door as it slid open. Steve’s grip tightened on the straps of his shield, Sam and Natasha’s fingers rested, ready to fire, on the triggers of their guns. A blast of freezing cold air rushed out of the room. The Avengers moved in.

The room was big, with high ceilings and walls lined with glass and medical-looking instruments. Natasha’s stomach turned at the sight of them. She lifted her gun and sweeped the room. Her sight landed on a metal table in the center of the room. 

“Thor!” she shouted, rushing forward. She clipped her gun to her hip and reached out to shake Thor’s shoulders. He was lying, unconscious, on the table. His hair was longer than it was when they’d last seen him, and he looked about twenty pounds lighter. 

A blue light ran over Thor’s body, coming from Tony’s helmet. Everyone held their breath, eyes bouncing from Tony to Thor and back, waiting for his report. Tony’s helmet melted away. “There’s drugs in his system. I can’t identify them yet, but we need to get him out of here now.”

“Are they poisonous?” Sam asked.

Natasha and Steve started undoing the restraints on Thor’s wrists and ankles. Steve ripped them out of their spots, sending bits of metal flying. 

“Not that I can tell,” Tony said, shaking his head, “Most likely they’re suppressants. To keep him compliant.”

“I’m going to kill them,” Natasha muttered. She finished off the last restraint, then turned to Tony. “Your suit can lift—“

“Bad news, guys,” Bruce said, his voice harried, “We’ve got incoming. Ross’ speech is still going, but his goons are heading home.”

Every conscious person in the room cursed. Tony quickly scooped the god into his arms and rushed out of the room. The rest of the team was hot on his tail. 

“How close, Bruce?” Steve asked as they turned a corner. 

“Twenty minutes tops.”

They didn’t even need to share a look. They could get to the van in twenty minutes.

“Start the van,” Tony ordered. He glanced back at the team. “I’m going to blast out with Thor, alright? We’ll meet you halfway.”

“Go ahead,” Sam said with a nod, “I’ll fly them out if it comes to it.”

“Think they’ll mind if I blow a hole in the roof?” Tony asked with a cocky smirk. 

The three of them stepped back in sync. “Be my guest,” Steve said. 

Tony blasted off, and the three of them shielded their eyes from the rain of rubble and dust. Coughing, Steve looked to his friends. “Well, are we just going to stand here?”

Natasha laughed and took a running start. Her hands clasped onto the blasted cement and metal, then she pulled herself up to the room. Steve and Sam did the same. Sam spread his wings. “Who’s riding?” he asked. 

“Go ahead, Nat,” Steve said, nodding towards Sam. “I’ll just jump down.”

Natasha sighed, but she wrapped her arms around Sam’s neck anyways. “Didn’t your mother tell you? When all your friends are jumping off a building, don’t follow them.”

* * *

The ghost of pain still lingered on Thor’s skin, but nothing new seemed to be being inflicted, so he counted that as a win. He took a slow breath in through his nose, ignoring the way his lungs screamed in protest to use. He lied as still as he could; last time he resisted he was out cold for days, and woke up in the worst pain he’d ever felt. But something was different. There were no restraints on his wrists or ankles, and the cold metal table that had become familiar was replaced by a soft and warm bed.

Thor peeled his eyes open. Sweeping the room as best he could from his prone position, he tried to discern exactly where he was. It definitely wasn’t the lab. This place—wherever it was—didn’t have the smell of antiseptics and cleaning products. It smelled like...Natasha’s perfume, Bruce’s linen scented candles, Tony’s cologne, the smell of charcoal that clung to Steve’s skin. It smelled like  _ home _ . 

If it was a dream, Thor didn’t want to wake up. If it wasn’t, then he had nothing to fear. 

He pushed himself up on shaky arms. His heart leapt in his chest, and a grin spread over his cracked lips. He was home. Med Bay in the compound, actually. Curtains closed him into a private bed, but they were familiar. He was  _ home.  _ He couldn’t help the choked sob that escaped him, nor the tears that poured down his cheeks. 

That joy was very quickly replaced by fear. Where was his team? Ross’ promises echoed in Thor’s head like some sick mantra.  _ You try and escape,  _ the general hissed in his ear as he lied on that table,  _ I’ll kill every last one of your precious Avengers.  _

If he was free, then they must have rescued him. But why weren’t they here? His shaking hands struggled to lift his blanket off his legs, but he got it. Swinging legs he hadn’t used in too long to the ground, Thor held tight to the rails on the side of the bed. His vision turned fuzzy and lights danced across the room. He bit back a wave of nausea. 

Thor limped closer to the curtains, needing to know who still waited behind them. His heart pounded in his chest. “C’mon,” he whispered, frustrated tears blurring his already impaired vision. He stumbled forward and yanked the curtains open. 

The entire team slept on the other side of the curtain. Scattered everywhere from the other beds to chairs to even the floor, the Avengers waited on their friend to wake up. Thor started at them all, a weight lifted from his chest. He flattened a hand against his beating heart, allowing himself a moment of relief.

Bruce’s nose scrunched before his eyes fluttered open. He looked up, and jumped at the sight of Thor. He scrambled up from his seat. “Thor!” he cried, grabbing his friend’s arms and pushing him gently back towards the bed. “You need to go back to bed.”

Thor allowed himself to be lifted back into bed. Tucking himself back under the covers, he gave Bruce a bittersweet smile. “I just had to make sure you all were alright.”

Bruce sighed. “We’re fine,” he assured him, “You’re the one that was being  _ tortured _ .”

The rest of the team—including the few that hadn’t gone on the rescue mission—was awakened by the ruckus, and all crowded around Thor’s bedside. Their eyes were wide as they drank in the sight of their friend alive and safe and sane at home again. 

“Good to see you, man,” Steve said, “Sorry we couldn’t get there sooner.”

“You shouldn’t have come at all,” Thor argued, that familiar panic rising once more. Ross wasn’t going to just let him go. “You need to take me back.”

Natasha and Steve shared a quick look. She stepped up to the foot of the bed, squinting her eyes at Thor. “What did Ross do to you?” she asked, not afraid to get an answer she didn’t want to hear. 

Thor tensed up. Memories flashed behind his eyes. His gaze fell to his lap. “It doesn’t matter,” he mumbled, “What matters is, Ross promised that if I escaped, he’d come after you. All of you.”

“That explains it then,” Tony said, shaking his head. At Thor’s confused look, he elaborated, “You’re more powerful than any of us, Point Break. There weren’t any guards in the facility where they kept you. It wouldn’t have been hard at all for you to escape.”

“Wait,” Sam said, holding up a hand. His brows were furrowed. “You let them  _ torture  _ you because you wanted to protect us?”

Thor nodded. “He was testing ways to stop us,” he revealed, “Ways to take our powers. Trust me, none of you could’ve survived him using those against you.”

“You can’t put yourself in danger to protect us,” Natasha said. She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. Thor squirmed a little under her gaze. “We can handle ourselves.”

“So can I,” Thor countered. He pushed himself up straighter in his bed. “I chose to stay there. I chose to protect my team. Now I’m choosing to go back. You don’t understand, this isn’t just another battle. He has weapons that can take down the Hulk with a single shot.”  

Thor started to get up, but no less than six gentle hands pushed him back down. His chest was heaving. “Please,” he whispered, “Let me protect you.”

“Let  _ us _ protect  _ you _ ,” Steve said sternly, “We can handle anything they throw at us, remember? We’ve fought worse than Ross.”

“And besides,” Tony joked, “half of us don’t even have real powers.”

Thor laughed. He dragged his hands over his too-long beard. “Fine. Just...promise me you’ll be careful. Be on the lookout for him. You do not want to be on the receiving end of those weapons, let me assure you.” 

The Avengers took a collective breath. “We promise.”


End file.
